Close the 710 Freeway gap by building the tunnel: Gloria Molina and Ed Chau

It is time to end the debate and close the gap by building the 710 Freeway tunnel. It is also time for 710 Freeway opponents to stop their misinformation campaign.

A tunnel will not cause more pollution or disrupt life for local residents. In fact, it will do the opposite.

Currently, with the 710 gap, drivers of roughly 200,000 vehicles have no choice but to use major traffic arteries in place of a completed freeway — along Valley Boulevard, Fremont Avenue, Fair Oaks Avenue, Arroyo Parkway and Sierra Madre Boulevard. This is exactly why the 710 Freeway practically grinds to a halt during rush hour well before drivers reach the Valley Boulevard exit.

So, for any commuter using the 710 Freeway, the gap already disrupts life in Alhambra and Southeast Los Angeles. Local roads in these neighborhoods already suffer severe damage due to overuse.

These residents were promised decades ago that this fix was a stop-gap measure. Opponents need to quit trying to stop the gap from being closed.

These same naysayers also erroneously claim that a tunnel will worsen air quality. They conveniently ignore how air quality is already horrendous in Southeast L.A. — especially for its children, where 12 out of every 100 children develop asthma.

There is a direct connection between asthma in Southeast L.A. and the pollution caused by cars and trucks forced to stand idle along an incomplete 710 Freeway. It’s all the more true since commuters must use the streets as de facto “streetways.”

The pollution that 710 tunnel opponents don’t want is already in the air, being breathed by Southeast L.A. families — who don’t have the extra time and resources to devote to NIMBYism.

A tunnel will include massive air filtration systems. The air emitted from these vents will be much cleaner — and strictly monitored — unlike current emissions from the nearby streetways.

Closing the 710 gap will remove about 2,200 pounds of air pollutants each day. That equals 803,000 pounds of air pollutants each year.

Perhaps that’s why 63 percent of San Gabriel Valley residents support 710 Freeway completion. So do the cities of Alhambra, Monterey Park, San Marino, Rosemead and San Gabriel, and the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments.

Numerous school districts, elected officials, labor groups, and business associations from these areas all agree that we can’t wait any more for a long overdue solution to this problem. Even Pasadena residents voted in favor of closing the 710 gap!

Advertisement

Moreover, the residents of L.A. County have spoken. An overwhelming majority of county voters approved Measure R with the SR-710 North Tunnel as a named project.

A tunnel will reduce both arterial and freeway congestion by 20 percent. It will remove more than 75,000 daily trips from local streets and reduce regional cut-through traffic. Plus it will eliminate congestion at 22 percent of the intersections studied.

Fear mongers claim truck traffic from the ports into the San Gabriel Valley will increase if we close the 710 gap. They conveniently ignore that nearby corridors are currently being improved to accommodate existing and future heavy truck port traffic. And the tunnel approval can be conditioned to restrict trucks of certain size and weight.

When the 405 Freeway was constructed through Beverly Hills and Brentwood, residents voiced similar complaints. But could you imagine the Westside without the kind of connectivity that the 405 Freeway provides — with Sepulveda Boulevard as your only commuting option?

This is what San Gabriel Valley residents — especially in El Sereno and Alhambra — have dealt with every day, for decades.

Traffic congestion in the San Gabriel Valley is quickly rivaling the Westside. And because of the 710 Freeway intimidation campaign, help — like commuters in traffic — is stuck.

And if opponents have their way, this will never change. They’ve opposed every option before them — a freeway above ground, below ground and at street level.

The only option acceptable to the local “Party of No” is the status quo. I’d stand with them if the proposal was the one presented in the 1970s — homes seized and razed for yet another freeway.

But that is not the case today.

We will not fall prey to misinformation and intimidation. The facts are clear — a tunnel will reduce pollution and improve mobility.

Let’s stand up for what is right. Close the gap. Build the 710 Freeway tunnel.